tokfandomcom-20200215-history
Barbary pirates
, c. 1681}} 1650}} and s and s who operated from , based primarily in the ports of , , , , and .}} This area was known in as the , a term derived from the name of its inhabitants. Their predation extended throughout the , south along 's seaboard and into the as far north as , but they primarily operated in the western Mediterranean. In addition to seizing , they engaged in , raids on European coastal towns and villages, mainly in Italy, France, Spain, and Portugal, but also in the British Isles, the Netherlands, and as far away as Iceland. The main purpose of their attacks was to carry out for profit by capturing for the as well as the general in North Africa and the Middle East. }}, either as directly administered provinces or as autonomous dependencies known as the . Similar raids were undertaken from and other ports in . Barbary corsairs captured thousands of merchant ships and repeatedly raided coastal towns. As a result, residents abandoned their former villages of long stretches of coast in Spain and Italy. Between 100,000 and 250,000 Iberians were enslaved by these raids. The raids were such a problem coastal settlements were seldom undertaken until the 19th century. Between 1580 and 1680 corsairs were said to have captured about 850,000 people as slaves and from 1530 to 1780 as many as 1,250,000 people were enslaved. However, these numbers have been questioned by the historian David Earle. Some of these corsairs were European outcasts and (renegade) such as and . and , Turkish Barbarossa Brothers, who took control of Algiers on behalf of the Ottomans in the early 16th century, were also notorious corsairs. The European pirates brought advanced sailing and shipbuilding techniques to the Barbary Coast around 1600, which enabled the corsairs to extend their activities into the . The effects of the Barbary raids peaked in the early to mid-17th century. Long after Europeans had abandoned -driven vessels in favor of sailing ships carrying tons of powerful cannon, many Barbary warships were s carrying a hundred or more fighting men armed with es and small arms. The Barbary navies were not battle fleets. When they sighted a European , they fled. The scope of corsair activity began to diminish in the latter part of the 17th century, as the more powerful European navies started to compel the Barbary States to make peace and cease attacking their shipping. However, the ships and coasts of Christian states without such effective protection continued to suffer until the early 19th century. and the in 1814–15, European powers agreed upon the need to suppress the Barbary corsairs entirely and the threat was largely subdued.}} Occasional incidents occurred, including two between the and the Barbary States, until finally terminated by the in 1830. History had been known in the Mediterranean since at least the 9th century and the short-lived }}. was plagued by slave raids in the ; in 869, archbishop was captured, and died before he could be released after the payment of a ransom in weapons, treasure and slaves. In 1198 the problem of Berber piracy and slave-taking was so great that a religious order, the , were founded to collect ransoms and even to exchange themselves as ransom for those captured and pressed into slavery in North Africa. In the 14th century Tunisian corsairs became enough of a threat to provoke a Franco-Genoese attack on Mahdia in 1390, also known as the " ". exiles of the and Maghreb pirates added to the numbers, but in 1487 that the Barbary corsairs became a true menace to shipping from European Christian nations.}} The Barbary pirates had long attacked English and other European shipping along the North Coast of Africa. They had been attacking English merchant and passengers ships since the 1600s. Regular fundraising for ransoms was undertaken generally by families and local church groups, who generally raised the ransoms for individuals. The government did not ransom ordinary persons. The English became familiar with written by Barbary pirates' prisoners and ransomed captives, as so many people were taken. During the the pirates attacked American merchant vessels in the Mediterranean. But, on December 20, 1777, issued a declaration recognizing America as an independent country, and that American merchant ships could enjoy safe passage into the Mediterranean and along the coast. The relations were formalized with the signed in 1786, which stands as the U.S.'s oldest non-broken friendship with a foreign power. As late as 1798, an islet near was attacked by the , and more than 900 inhabitants were taken away as slaves. Throughout history, geography was on the pirates' side on the Northern coast of Africa. The coast was ideal for their wants and needs. With natural harbours often backed by lagoons, it provided a haven for guerrilla warfare, such as attacks on shipping vessels venturing through their territory. On the coast, mountainous areas provided ample reconnaissance for the corsairs as well. Ships were spotted from afar; the pirates had time to prepare their attacks and surprise the ships. 16th century , 1538}} Moors and Turkish adventurers from the , of whom the most successful were and , natives of , increased the number of raids around the turn of the 15th century. In response, Spain began to conquer the coastal towns of , Algiers and . But after Oruç was killed in battle with the Spanish in 1518, his brother Hızır appealed to , the Ottoman sultan, who sent him troops. In 1529, Hızır drove the Spaniards from the rocky, fortified island in front of Algiers, and founded the Ottoman power in the region. From about 1518 till the death of in 1587, Algiers was the main seat of government of the s of northern Africa, who ruled over Tripoli, Tunisia and Algeria. From 1587 to 1659, they were ruled by Ottoman s, sent from to govern for three years; but in the latter year a military revolt in Algiers reduced the pashas to nonentities. There are several cases of s, including and , who upon turned to attacking the Spanish Empire's shipping under the Ottoman flag, a profitable strategy of revenge for the 's . They were slave-hunters and their methods were ferocious. The maritime operations were conducted by the captains, or reises, who formed a class or even a corporation. Cruisers were fitted out by investors and commanded by the reises. Ten percent of the value of the prizes was paid to the pasha or his successors, who bore the titles of agha or or bey. s being erected.}} In 1544 Hayreddin captured the island of , taking 4,000 prisoners, and enslaved some 2,000–7,000 inhabitants of . In 1551 enslaved the entire population of the Maltese island of , between 5,000 and 6,000, sending them to . In 1554 corsairs under Turgut Reis sacked , beheaded 5,000 of its inhabitants, and abducted another 6,000. In 1555 Turgut Reis sacked , , taking 6,000 prisoners. In 1558, Barbary corsairs captured the town of (Minorca), destroyed it, many inhabitants, and took 3,000 to as slaves. In 1563 Turgut Reis landed on the shores of the province of , Spain, and captured coastal settlements in the area, such as , along with 4,000 prisoners. Barbary corsairs often attacked the , and in response many coastal watchtowers and fortified were erected. The threat was so severe that residents abandoned the island of . Even at this early stage, the European states fought back: 's monument Quattro Mori celebrates 16th-century victories against the Barbary corsairs won by the and the , of which the Grand Duke of Tuscany was Grand Master. Another response was the construction of the original s; light, fast and maneuverable galleys, designed to run down Barbary corsairs trying to get away with their loot and slaves. Other measures included coastal lookouts to give warning for people to withdraw into fortified places and rally local forces to fight the corsairs. This latter goal was especially difficult to achieve as the corsairs had the advantage of surprise; the vulnerable European Mediterranean coasts were very long and easily accessible from the north African Barbary bases, and the corsairs were careful in planning their raids. 17th century , c. 1615}} During the first half of the 17th century, Barbary raiding was at its peak due largely to the contribution of Dutch corsairs, notably (Simon de Danser), who used the Barbary ports as bases for attacking Spanish shipping during the . They cooperated with local raiders and introduced them to the latest Dutch sailing rigs, enabling them to brave Atlantic waters. Some of these Dutch corsairs converted to Islam and settled permanently in North Africa. Two examples are Süleyman Reis, " ", who became admiral of the Algerian corsair fleet in 1617, and his quartermaster Murat Reis, born . Both worked for the notorious Dutch corsair . A notable counter action occurred in 1607, when the (under ) sacked in Algeria, killing 470 and taking 1,464 captives. This victory is commemorated by a series of frescoes painted by in the "Sala di Bona" of , . In 1611 Spanish galleys from , accompanied by the galleys of the , raided the off the coast of and took away almost 500 Muslim captives. Between 1568 and 1634 the Knights of Saint Stephen may have captured about 14,000 Muslims, with perhaps one-third taken in land raids and two-thirds taken on captured ships. was in ransoming Christian slaves held in Muslim hands, Histoire de Barbarie et de ses Corsaires, 1637}} Barbary corsair attacks were common in southern , south and east , the , the , , , , the (especially the coast), and . They also occurred on the Atlantic northwest coast of the as in 1617, when the North African corsairs launched their major attack in the region. They destroyed and sacked Bouzas, and the churches of and Darbo. Occasionally coastal raids reached farther afield. was subject to in 1627. Jan Janszoon (Murat Reis the Younger) is said to have taken 400 prisoners; 242 of the captives later were sold into slavery on the . The corsairs took only young people and those in good physical condition. All those offering resistance were killed, and the old people were gathered into a church which was set on fire. Among those captured was , who was ransomed the next year. Upon returning to Iceland, he wrote an account about his experience. Such s by Europeans who had been held in Muslim states eventually constituted a literary genre. was subject to a similar attack. In June 1631 Murat Reis, with corsairs from Algiers and armed troops of the , stormed ashore at the little harbor village of . They and took them away to a life of slavery in North Africa. The prisoners were destined for a variety of fates – some lived out their days chained to the oars as galley slaves, while women spent long years as in harems or within the walls of the sultan's palace. Only two of these captives ever returned to Ireland. More than 20,000 captives were said to be imprisoned in Algiers alone. The rich were often able to secure release through ransom, but the poor were condemned to slavery. Their masters would on occasion allow them to secure freedom by professing Islam. A long list might be given of people of good social position, not only Italians or Spaniards, but German or English travelers in the south, who were captives for a time. While the chief victims were the inhabitants of the coasts of , and Spain, all traders of nations which did not pay tribute for immunity or force the Barbary States to leave them alone were liable to be taken at sea. Religious orders – the and – worked for the redemption of captives, and in many countries the wealthy left legacies to support such redemptions. , Dutch ships bomb Tripoli in a punitive expedition against the Barbary pirates, c. 1670}} Barbary piracy thrived on the competition among European powers. France encouraged the corsairs against Spain, and later Britain and Holland supported them against France. By the second half of the 17th century, the greater European naval powers were able to strike back effectively enough to intimidate the Barbary States into making peace with them. However, those countries' commercial interests benefited by the pirates continuing attacks on their competitors. As a result, they did not cooperate to impose a more general cessation of corsair activity. England was the most successful of the Christian states in dealing with the corsair threat. From the 1630s onwards England had signed peace treaties with the Barbary States on various occasions, but invariably breaches of these agreements led to renewed wars. A particular bone of contention was the tendency of foreign ships to pose as English to avoid attack. However, growing English naval power and increasingly persistent operations against the corsairs proved increasingly costly for the Barbary States. During the reign of a series of English expeditions won victories over raiding Barbary squadrons and mounted attacks on their home ports; these actions permanently ended the Barbary threat to English shipping. In 1675 a squadron led by negotiated a lasting peace with Tunis and, after bombarding the city to induce compliance, with Tripoli. Peace with Salé followed in 1676. Algiers, returned to war the following year, breaking a treaty made in 1671. After suffering defeats at the hands of an English squadron under , Algiers made peace again in 1682, in a treaty that lasted until 1816. France, which had recently emerged as a leading naval power, achieved comparable success soon afterwards. It bombarded Algiers in 1682, 1683 and 1688 to secure a lasting peace, and forced Tripoli to sue for peace by bombardment in 1686. A 2016 study found that Barbary corsairs were less militarily powerful after 1675 than they were at the start of the seventeenth century. 18th–19th centuries paying tribute to the of Algiers, circa 1800}} Piracy was enough of a problem that some states entered into the redemption business. a so called 'slave fund' (slavekasse) was established by the state in 1715. Funds were brought in through a compulsory insurance sum for seafarers. by this institution between 1716 and 1736." "Between 1716 and 1754 19 ships from Denmark-Norway were captured with 208 men; piracy was thus a serious problem for the Danish merchant fleet." In the late 18th century piracy began to arise again. In and 1784 the Spanish bombarded to end piracy. The damaged the city so severely that the Algerian asked to negotiate a peace treaty. From then on Spanish vessels and coasts were safe for several years. Separately, the Danish . Until the in 1776, treaties with the states protected American ships from the corsairs. , which in 1777 was , in 1784 became the first Barbary power to seize an American vessel after the nation achieved independence . in March 1794. While the United States did secure peace treaties with the Barbary states, it was obliged to pay tribute for protection from attack. The burden was substantial: in 1800 payments in ransom and tribute to the Barbary states amounted to 20% of 's annual expenditures.}} The United States conducted the in 1801 and the in 1815 to gain more favorable peace terms; it ended the payment of tribute. But, Algiers broke the 1805 peace treaty after two years, and refused to implement the 1815 treaty until compelled to do so by Britain in 1816. The (1814–15), which ended the , led to increased European consensus on the need to end Barbary raiding. The sacking of on the island of by a Tunisian squadron, which carried off 158 inhabitants, roused widespread indignation. Britain had by this time banned the and was seeking to induce other countries to do likewise. States that were more vulnerable to the corsairs complained that Britain cared more for ending the trade in than stopping the enslavement of Europeans and Americans by the Barbary States. }} In order to neutralise this objection and further the anti-slavery campaign, in 1816 Britain sent to secure new concessions from , , and , including a pledge to treat Christian captives in any future conflict as rather than slaves. He imposed peace between Algiers and the kingdoms of and . On his first visit, Lord Exmouth negotiated satisfactory treaties and sailed for home. While he was negotiating, a number of Sardinian fishermen who had settled at on the Tunisian coast were brutally treated without his knowledge. As Sardinians they were technically under British protection, the government sent Exmouth back to secure reparation. On August 17, in combination with a Dutch squadron under Admiral Van de Capellen, Exmouth . Both Algiers and Tunis made fresh concessions as a result. The Barbary states had difficulty securing uniform compliance with a total prohibition of slave-raiding, as this had been traditionally of central importance to the North African economy. Slavers continued to take captives by preying on less well-protected peoples. Algiers subsequently renewed its slave-raiding, though on a smaller scale. Europeans at the in 1818 discussed possible retaliation. In 1820 a British fleet under Admiral Sir Harry Neal bombarded Algiers. .}} Slaves Barbary slaves According to Robert Davis, between 1 million and 1.25 million Europeans were captured by Barbary pirates and sold as slaves in and between the 16th and 19th centuries. However, to extrapolate his numbers, Davis assumes the number of European slaves captured by Barbary pirates were constant for a 250-year period, stating: , 1684}} Davis' numbers have been question by the historian David Earle, who said of Davis' numbers "His figures sound a bit dodgy and I think he may be exaggerating" and cautioned that the true picture of European slaves is clouded by the fact that the corsairs also seized non-Christian whites from eastern Europe and black people from west Africa. In addition, the number of slaves traded was hyperactive, with exaggerated estimates relying on peak years to calculate averages for entire centuries, or millennia. Hence, there were wide fluctuations year-to-year, particularly in the 18th and 19th centuries, given slave imports, and given the fact that, prior to the 1840s, there are no consistent records. Middle East expert, John Wright, cautions that modern estimates are based on back-calculations from human observation. Such observations, across the late 1500s and early 1600s observers, account for around 35,000 European Christian slaves held throughout this period on the Barbary Coast, across Tripoli, Tunis, but mostly in Algiers. The majority were sailors (particularly those who were English), taken with their ships, but others were fishermen and poor coastal villagers. However, most of these captives were people from lands close to Africa, particularly Spain and Italy. From bases on the Barbary coast, North Africa, the Barbary pirates raided ships traveling through the Mediterranean and along the northern and western coasts of Africa, plundering their cargo and enslaving the people they captured. From at least 1500, the pirates also conducted raids along seaside towns of Italy, Spain, France, England, the Netherlands and as far away as Iceland, capturing men, women and children. On some occasions, settlements such as , were abandoned following the raid, only being resettled many years later. Between 1609 and 1616, England alone had 466 merchant ships lost to Barbary pirates. While Barbary corsairs looted the cargo of ships they captured, their primary goal was to capture people for sale as slaves or for ransom. Those who had family or friends who might ransom them were held captive, but not obliged to work; the most famous of these was the author , who was held for almost five years. Others were sold into various types of servitude. Attractive women or boys could be used as . Captives who converted to Islam were generally freed, since enslavement of Muslims was prohibited; but this meant that they could never return to their native countries. Captives often suffered from privation on voyages to North Africa if taken at a distance. Those who survived the journeys were often forced to walk through town as they were taken to slave auctions. The slaves typically had to stand from eight in the morning until two in the afternoon while buyers viewed them. Next came the auction, where the townspeople would bid on the captives they wanted to purchase and once that was over, the governor of Algiers (the Dey) had the chance to purchase any slave he wanted for the price they were sold at the auction. During the auctions the slaves would be forced to run and jump around to show their strength and stamina. After purchase, the captives would either be held for ransom, or be put to work. Slaves were used for a wide variety of jobs, from hard manual labor to housework (the job assigned to most women slaves). At night the slaves were put into prisons called ' s' (derived from the Italian word "bagno" for public bath, inspired by the Turks' use of Roman baths at Constantinople as prisons), which were often hot and overcrowded. However, these bagnios began improving by the 18th century. Some bagnios had chapels, hospitals, shops, and bars run by captives, though such amenities remained uncommon. Galley slaves by and liberation of Christian s in 1535}} Although the conditions in bagnios were harsh, they were better than those endured by slaves. Most Barbary galleys were at sea for around eighty to a hundred days a year, but when the slaves assigned to them were on land, they were forced to do hard manual labor. There were exceptions: "galley slaves of the Ottoman Sultan in Constantinople would be permanently confined to their galleys, and often served extremely long terms, averaging around nineteen years in the late seventeenth-century and early eighteenth-century periods. These slaves rarely got off the galley but lived there for years." During this time, rowers were shackled and chained where they sat, and never allowed to leave. Sleeping (which was limited), eating, defecation and urination took place at the seat to which they were shackled. There were usually five or six rowers on each oar. Overseers would walk back and forth and whip slaves considered not to be working hard enough. , 13 June 1830}} 's coat of arms, which shows the turbaned heads of three Barbary pirates floating in the sea, was granted to the town by King in 1526}} Famous Barbary corsairs According to historian , the most notorious corsairs were English and European renegades who had learned their trade as s, and who moved to the Barbary Coast during peacetime to pursue their trade. These outcasts brought up-to-date naval expertise to the piracy business, and enabled the corsairs to make long-distance slave-catching raids as far away as and . The English corsair later returned to England after gaining a royal pardon. He was knighted, elected to Parliament, and appointed a vice admiral of the Royal Navy. Barbarossa brothers Oruç Barbarossa The most famous of the corsairs in North Africa were Albanian/Greek brothers Oruç and Hızır Hayreddin. They, and two less well-known brothers all became Barbary corsairs in the service of the Ottoman Empire; they were called the Barbarossas (Italian for Redbeards) after the red beard of Oruç, the eldest. Oruç captured the island of Djerba for the Ottoman Empire in 1502 or 1503. He often attacked Spanish territories on the coast of North Africa; during one failed attempt in 1512 he lost his left arm to a cannonball. The eldest Barbarossa also went on a rampage through Algiers in 1516, and captured the town with the help of the Ottoman Empire. He executed the ruler of Algiers and everybody he suspected would oppose him, including local rulers. He was finally captured and killed by the Spanish in 1518, and put on display. Hızır Hayreddin Barbarossa }} Oruç, based mainly on land, was not the best-known of the Barbarossas. His youngest brother Hızır (later called Hayreddin or Kheir ed-Din) was a more traditional corsair. He was a capable engineer and spoke at least six languages. He dyed the hair of his head and beard with to redden it like Oruç's. After capturing many crucial coastal areas, Hayreddin was appointed admiral-in-chief of the Ottoman sultan's fleet. Under his command the Ottoman Empire was able to gain and keep control of the eastern Mediterranean for over thirty years. Barbaros Hızır Hayreddin Pasha died in 1546 of a fever, possibly the plague. Captain Jack Ward English corsair Jack, or John, Ward was once called "beyond doubt the greatest scoundrel that ever sailed from England" by the English ambassador to Venice. Ward was a privateer for Queen Elizabeth during her war with Spain; after the end of the war, he became a corsair. With some associates he captured a ship in about 1603 and sailed it to Tunis; he and his crew converted to . He was successful and became rich. He introduced heavily armed square-rigged ships, used instead of galleys, to the North African area, a major reason for the Barbary's future dominance of the Mediterranean. He died of plague in 1622. Sayyida al-Hurra Sayyida al-Hurra was a female cleric, merchant, governor of , and later the wife of the sultan of . She was born around 1485 in the , but was forced to flee to Morocco when she was very young to escape the . In Morocco, she gathered a crew largely of exiled , and launched pirate expeditions against Spain and Portugal to avenge the Reconquista, protect Morocco from Christian pirates, and seek riches and glory. She co-founded the Barbary Corsairs with her allies the Barbarossa brothers, who divided the Mediterranean between them—the Barbarossas and their Ottoman fleet operating in the , and Sayyida al-Hurra and her Moorish and North-African pirates operating in the . Sayyida al-Hurra became wealthy and renowned enough for the Sultan of Morocco, to make her his queen. Notably, however, she refused to marry in his capital of , and would not get married but in Tétouan, of which she was governor. This was the first and only time in history that a Moroccan monarch had married away from his capital. Other famous Barbary corsairs s Headquarter in , .}} , the last of the Barbary Pirates.}} * (c. 1451–1511) * (died 1482) * (died 1546) * (died 1554 or 1555) * (1485–1565) * (died 1553) * (1487–c. 1535) * * (c. 1488–1568) * (1498–1563) * (c. 1515–1578) * (1773–1815) * (1519–1587) * (c. 1560–1645) * or Simon Reis (c. 1579–c. 1611) * or Sulayman Reis (died 1620) * (c. 1534–1638) * (c. 1570–after 1641) In fiction ("Four Moors") by ; , }} Barbary corsairs are protagonists in (the panthers of Algiers) by . They were featured in a number of other noted novels, including by , by , by , and the Sword of Islam by , by , by , the by , by , by , by and by . , the Spanish author, was captive for five years as a slave in the of Algiers, and reflected his experience in some of his fictional (but not directly autobiographical) writings, including the Captive's tale in , his two plays set in Algiers, El Trato de Argel (The Treaty of Algiers) and Los Baños de Argel (The Baths of Algiers), and episodes in a number of other works. In 's opera (a ), two European ladies are discovered in a Turkish harem, presumably captured by Barbary corsairs. 's opera is based on the capture of several slaves by Barbary corsairs led by the of . One of the stereotypical features of a pirate as portrayed in popular culture, the , may have been partially derived from the corsair , who wore a patch after losing an eye in battle in the 18th century. References Category:Middle ages